Hearing & Speech Scienceshttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/22452016-11-19T12:00:03Z2016-11-19T12:00:03ZLanguage Outcomes of the Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) Project Home Consultation model—An Extended AnalysisCatalano, Allisonhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/184482016-06-23T02:42:15Z2016-01-01T00:00:00ZLanguage Outcomes of the Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) Project Home Consultation model—An Extended Analysis
Catalano, Allison
The current study is a post-hoc analysis of data from the original randomized control trial of the Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) Home Consultation program, a parent-mediated, DIR/Floortime based early intervention program for children with ASD (Solomon, Van Egeren, Mahone, Huber, & Zimmerman, 2014). We examined 22 children from the original RCT who received the PLAY program. Children were split into two groups (high and lower functioning) based on the ADOS module administered prior to intervention. Fifteen-minute parent-child video sessions were coded through the use of CHILDES transcription software. Child and maternal language, communicative behaviors, and communicative functions were assessed in the natural language samples both pre- and post-intervention. Results demonstrated significant improvements in both child and maternal behaviors following intervention. There was a significant increase in child verbal and non-verbal initiations and verbal responses in whole group analysis. Total number of utterances, word production, and grammatical complexity all significantly improved when viewed across the whole group of participants; however, lexical growth did not reach significance. Changes in child communicative function were especially noteworthy, and demonstrated a significant increase in social interaction and a significant decrease in non-interactive behaviors. Further, mothers demonstrated an increase in responsiveness to the child’s conversational bids, increased ability to follow the child’s lead, and a decrease in directiveness. When separated for analyses within groups, trends emerged for child and maternal variables, suggesting greater gains in use of communicative function in both high and low groups over changes in linguistic structure. Additional analysis also revealed a significant inverse relationship between maternal responsiveness and child non-interactive behaviors; as mothers became more responsive, children’s non-engagement was decreased. Such changes further suggest that changes in learned skills following PLAY parent training may result in improvements in child social interaction and language abilities.
2016-01-01T00:00:00ZA communication partner training program: Assessing conversational behaviors and attitudes towards communication in Persons with Aphasia and their Communication PartnersYutesler, Allison E. Carlsonhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/184112016-06-23T02:39:18Z2016-01-01T00:00:00ZA communication partner training program: Assessing conversational behaviors and attitudes towards communication in Persons with Aphasia and their Communication Partners
Yutesler, Allison E. Carlson
This study examined the conversational behaviors of eleven dyads consisting of a person with aphasia (PWA) and their familiar communication partner (CP), and investigated changes in behaviors as a result of attending a communication partner-training program CPT). Attitudes about communication were examined and related to conversational behaviors observed pre- and post- training. Results indicated that CPs and PWA used significantly more facilitating behaviors than barrier behaviors, although most dyads experienced some barriers. A comparison of pre-and post-CPT conversations revealed a significant interaction between time and type of behavior, with the increase in the number of facilitators approaching significance. Overall, persons with aphasia and their conversational partners expressed positive attitudes about communication. There were no significant correlations between scores on attitude surveys and behaviors pre or post-training. This study demonstrated that these dyads employed facilitative conversational behaviors even before CPT, and that facilitative behaviors can increase after a one-day training workshop.
2016-01-01T00:00:00ZAn Exploration of Auditory Brainstem Encoding of Stop Consonants in Infants and Implications for Language OutcomesRosner, Rachel Steinhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/183942016-06-23T02:36:42Z2016-01-01T00:00:00ZAn Exploration of Auditory Brainstem Encoding of Stop Consonants in Infants and Implications for Language Outcomes
Rosner, Rachel Stein
Current trends in speech-language pathology focus on early intervention as the preferred tool for promoting the best possible outcomes in children with language disorders. Neuroimaging techniques are being studied as promising tools for flagging at-risk infants. In this study, the auditory brainstem response (ABR) to the syllables /ba/ and /ga/ was examined in 41 infants between 3 and 12 months of age as a possible tool to predict language development in toddlerhood. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) was used to assess language development at 18 months of age. The current study compared the periodicity of the responses to the stop consonants and phase differences between /ba/ and /ga/ in both at-risk and low-risk groups. The study also examined whether there are correlations among ABR measures (periodicity and phase differentiation) and language development. The study found that these measures predict language development at 18 months.
2016-01-01T00:00:00ZSES-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN WORD LEARNING: EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE INHIBITION AND WORD LEARNINGHollister, Erin Mariehttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/182772016-06-23T02:37:39Z2016-01-01T00:00:00ZSES-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN WORD LEARNING: EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE INHIBITION AND WORD LEARNING
Hollister, Erin Marie
Socioeconomic status (SES) influences language and cognitive development, with discrepancies particularly noticeable in vocabulary development. This study examines how SES-related differences impact the development of syntactic processing, cognitive inhibition, and word learning. 38 4-5-year-olds from higher- and lower-SES backgrounds completed a word-learning task, in which novel words were embedded in active and passive sentences. Critically, unlike the active sentences, all passive sentences required a syntactic revision. Measures of cognitive inhibition were obtained through a modified Stroop task. Results indicate that lower-SES participants had more difficulty using inhibitory functions to resolve conflict compared to their higher-SES counterparts. However, SES did not impact language processing, as the language outcomes were similar across SES background. Additionally, stronger inhibitory processes were related to better language outcomes in the passive sentence condition. These results suggest that cognitive inhibition impact language processing, but this function may vary across children from different SES backgrounds
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